Day 11 - Drive to Custer, SD

Hello everyone! I am going to make this blog pretty short tonight because Ryan and I are exhausted from our 12 hour drive (600 plus miles from Minneapolis, MN to Custer, SD). Ryan and I woke up at 7:15am, packed up the car, had our free continental breakfast and got the hell out of Minneapolis. The drive through Minnesota was not too bad. There were lots of farms and windmills and stuff like that. Once we got to South Dakota the real fun started. I am just going to say that South Dakota is the land of tourist traps. Every other billboard was a sign for Corn Palace, or 1880 Prairie House, or 10 million year old garden. It was ridiculous!! However, Ryan and I did stop in a town called Mitchells for lunch and the Corn Palace was only 3 miles up the road, so we had to indulge ourselves and check it out. I was expecting to find this whole Palace thing completely made of corn. In reality it was just a giant gym in the middle of a town that had some murals made out of corn. I did buy a magnet as I have been doing at every place we have stopped at along the way. The Corn Palace was nice because we stretched our legs and spoke with this very nice man who told us that we needed to drive through Badlands Nation Park on our way to Rapid City. He also suggested that we stay closer to Mt. Rushmore, and we headed his advice.

Ryan and I decided to upgrade our hotel and stay closer to Mt. Rushmore in a place called Custer, SD. We were originally going to stay in Rapid City. After the drive we had today it was definitely a good call to stay closer to the monument. At any rate, after the Corn Palace Ryan and I stopped at a scenic lookout spot where we had a nice view of the Missouri River. From there we continued towards the black hills of South Dakota. We hit some rain along the way, but it only lasted for a little while. Thank god it did, because we eventually got to Badlands National Park. Ryan and I are both glad we listed to the tour guides advice and checked this place out. The views from the National Park were breathtaking. I only wish that Ryan and I could have spent more time in this area, for we still had 2 hours to drive to get to our hotel. I wondered how the area had been created and it was not till the last scenic overlook that I found out that the area was formed from mineral deposits from volcanoes that had been in the area thousands of years ago. Volcanoes sure do create some spectacular sites. Check out all of the awesome photos that we took in Badlands National Park. Please feel free to use some of them as backdrops for your computers.

Once Ryan and I left Badlands National Park we made our way to Custer, SD. We checked into the hotel and realized that we had gained an hour and were officially on Mountain Time. We were pretty happy to have gained an hour, and it was the first time I have ever been on Mountain Time. Any who, we brought our bags into the hotel and headed into town for some grub. Ryan and I ate at a place called the Elk Bar and Soolon. The food was pretty good and the service was good as well (FINALLY). Check back tomorrow to see and hear more about our Lantern Cave tour at Jewel Cave (second largest cave in the world), Mt. Rushmore, and Custer Nation Park. Goodnight everyone!